Cleary Gottlieb advised Telefónica in securing clearance from the Competition and Markets Authority for its £31.4 billion joint venture with Liberty Global.
The deal will bring together Telefónica’s and Liberty Global’s O2 (a mobile-network operator) and Virgin Media (a provider of fixed-line telephony, internet, and TV services) subsidiaries to create a new fixed-mobile provider in the UK.
On September 30, 2020, Telefónica and Liberty Global notified the transaction to the European Commission. In November 2020, the Commission referred it to the CMA, which opened a Phase II investigation in December 2020.